Wilmington residents gathered in a protest in the wake of the March 13 oil tanker leak that they say has impacted people living in the marina area and caused “considerable damage to the docked boats” and kept areas closed off. The group meets at the Marina Cafe near the affected marina. March 25, 2016. (Brad Graverson / Staff Photographer)

As cleanup work to remove residual heavy fuel oil from pilings in Wilmington’s Cerritos Channel continued Friday, a group of boat owners gathered to protest what they claim is a failure to address personal damage reports.

Morgan Griffin, who lives aboard one of the vessels and operates a commercial fishing business from the Pacific Yacht Landing marina, said boat owners are concerned about the environmental impacts of both the oil and the cleanup methods being employed by a company hired by the ship responsible for the March 13 fuel leak.

“They’re using some sort of spraying device to clean this and that goes into the water,” he said, adding that owners have been offered “pennies” for damage claims.

More importantly, he charged, is that the cleanup is not being done with environmental safety in mind.

“It’s not a money thing,” he said, expressing concerns about cleanup materials being used while boats and pilings remain in the water.

MOL, the shipping line responsible for the cleanup, closed early Friday and could not be reached for comment.

About 30 protesters gathered at midday to object to the process. Attorney and Democratic congressional candidate Marcus Musante helped organize the gathering, saying “no elected official has come to their defense.”

In an update released Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said cleanup and monitoring continues around the surrounding marinas and that California Fish and Wildlife was monitoring cleanup activities also.

Several contractors were hired by the shipping company to assist in the cleanup, according to the Coast Guard news release.

“During the initial stages of the oil spill response, clean up contractors contained and removed oil in the vicinity of the marina, from the channel, from the barge and cargo ship. Currently, cleanup activities are ongoing in the vicinity of Berth 198 on the pier pilings. Cleanup operations on the pilings are contingent on tidal cycles, which limit the amount of hours the pilings are accessible for cleaning.”

A faulty pipe onboard the cargo ship that allowed heavy fuel oil to escape the bunker room and leak out of a hatch on the side of the ship is being blamed for the spill.

About four hours after refueling began, crew members smelled odors on the opposite side of the ship and discovered the discharge, said Los Angeles Port Police Chief Tom Gazsi during a report made to the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on March 17.

Some 15,600 feet of boom was set up to contain the spill, he said, as hazardous materials crews arrived on the scene.

Gazsi told commissioners last week that 15 birds had been exposed by the oil and were treated.

“We take these things very, very seriously,” he told the commission. “Significant efforts were implemented to ensure that this was contained and that an appropriate cleanup would occur.”

Donna Littlejohn has covered the Harbor Area as a reporter since 1981. Along with development, politics, coyotes, battleships and crime, she writes features that have spotlighted an array of topics, from an alligator on the loose in a city park to the modern-day cowboys who own the trails on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. She loves border collies and Aussie dogs, cats, early California Craftsman architecture and most surviving old stuff. She imagines the 1970s redevelopment sweep that leveled so much of San Pedro's historic waterfront district as very sad.

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